Iraq condemns US air strikes, warns of consequences

Iraq condemned overnight U.S. airstrikes on March 13, saying they killed six people and warning of dangerous consequences for what it called a violation of sovereignty and targeted aggression against the nation's regular armed forces.

President Barham Salih said repeated such violations could cause Iraq to unravel into a failed state and revive the Islamic State militant group. Iraq's foreign ministry announced plans to bring a complaint to the United Nations.

The United States defended the airstrikes, saying all five targets were legitimate and stored Iranian-supplied weapons used by the Kataib Hezbollah militia to attack the U.S.-led coalition. Washington launched the strikes in retaliation for a rocket attack on Wednesday on a base north of Baghdad that killed U.S. and British troops.

"These locations that we struck are clear locations of terrorist bases," said Marine General Kenneth McKenzie, head of the U.S. military's Central Command.

"If Iraqis were there and if Iraqi military forces were there, I would say it's probably not a good idea to position yourself with Kataib Hezbollah in the wake of a strike that killed Americans and coalition members," he told a Pentagon news briefing.

The Iraqi military warned the air strikes would have consequences while the foreign ministry said it summoned the U.S. and British ambassadors. 

Long-standing antagonism between the United States and Iran have mostly played out on Iraqi soil in recent months, stoking deep-seated tensions between elements of Iraqi society who oppose the U.S. military presence and those who see U.S.-led coalition support as vital to preventing the resurgence of Islamic State militants.

McKenzie said the death toll from the strike appeared limited....